New laws needed to help bring in bison and elk to boost nature, experts urge
Bison have been introduced to part of Kent
Laws for animals such as bison and elk must be changed so they can be more easily introduced to landscapes to help restore nature, conservationists have urged.
European bison, the closest living relative to ancient steppe bison that would have lived in Britain thousands of years ago, already roam in heavily-fenced woodland in Kent where their browsing is beginning to benefit the natural habitat.
There are plans to introduce elk – a large deer species which was hunted to extinction in Britain around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago – into wetland habitat in Nottinghamshire alongside beavers, where it is hoped they will boost the ecosystem.
But conservationists behind the schemes say they are having to navigate a complicated regime that treats large herbivores such as bison and elk as “dangerous wild animals”, dealt with in the same licensing procedure as lions, tigers or cobras.
One of the rangers working with the small herd of bison in West Blean and Thornden Woods, Kent, Hannah Mackins, said a local had described the 6ft wild animal fencing with gates and barbed wire as “a bit Jurassic Park”, for an animal that is similar to cattle.
But at the same time, the bison herd also fall under farming requirements such as ear-tagging and bluetongue and bovine TB testing regimes.
Ms Mackins said “it feels like a really hard, big mountain to get over” to bring in animals such as bison but suggested it would not always be that way, pointing to the continent where schemes used to have to put up fencing around bison and no longer have to.
The Wildlife Trusts are calling for a “Bison and Elk return Bill”, among a raft of nature-supporting legislation they want to see in this week’s Kings Speech, to create a new regulatory regime for the reintroduction of large herbivores to the wild in England.
Stan Smith, head of landscape and species recovery at the Wildlife Trusts, said the network of charities use large herbivores – which also include native breeds such as Exmoor ponies and Highland and longhorn cattle – to manage nature reserves.
“But what we really want to see is a real scaling up of the ability to use large herbivores across much larger landscape areas,” he said.
“If we are really serious about delivering on our national commitments for 30X30 – that’s 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 – then we really need to think about how we actually manage large landscape areas and have them function for nature.
“Large herbivores are really the only way to do that.”
Mr Smith said the trusts wanted to see a new category created for these animals as “kept wild”, with a specific licensing regime for large herbivores over large landscape areas.
This would require regular checks and, if necessary, intervention to ensure animal welfare, but they would be allowed to live out their lives in a much more natural system.
Mr Smith pointed to the behaviour of natural breeding cattle herds with a 50/50 mix of male and females, where males paw the ground, dig shallow open pits and create mounds of earth as part of competing for female attention.
These “bull pits” provide homes to burrowing wasps, solitary bees, and places for reptiles to warm up in, but they are never seen in managed herds as the rules make it challenging to have a natural mixture of animals, he said.
In West Blean and Thornden Woods, the bison – which unlike cattle have bottom and top teeth, broadening what they can feed on – are already having an impact by disturbing the dense, scrubby wood, bringing more light to the forest floor and allowing other woodland plants to grow through.
Animals such as bison and elk are needed alongside the native breeds because, according to Mr Smith, Britain would have once had a much broader suite of herbivores from aurochs to wild ponies.
Janice Bradley from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, said the charity believed elk were “an absolutely fundamental missing keystone species, particularly in our flood plains”.
Elk are the only large truly aquatic deer, able to hold their breath underwater and dive up to six metres, feeding and churning up the bottom of lakes and eating willow out of reed beds which would invigorate the habitat for rare bitterns and marsh harriers, she said.
There are plans to bring the species into the already-fenced 58-hectare beaver habitat at Idle Valley nature reserve, and ultimately expand the enclosure, as part of a project with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to introduce elk to the East Midlands.
“We really want to see every little niche of herbivore filled, from a water vole to an elk, because they all have different grazing and browsing actions,” Ms Bradley said.
The Wildlife Trusts are also calling for other Bills in the King’s Speech to support nature, including legislation to give Defra emergency powers to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas, laws to remove artificial barriers that block species and increase wilder riverbanks, and a Bill to ban peat in horticulture.
A Defra spokesperson said: “This Government is committed to protecting and restoring our most threatened native wildlife to reverse the decline of nature and protect it for generations to come.
“We are investing £60 million over the next three years into the Species Recovery Programme, marking the largest ever Government investment in directly supporting threatened species. We’re also returning iconic species like beavers and golden eagles to England once more.”